Merry Sickmas, er, uh, Christmas!

Andrew now completely believes that he will ALWAYS be sick on Christmas! (Read last year's Christmas blog, if you're confused.) We don't know what's going on with him, really. He got a stomach flu on Dec. 17th, and missed his Christmas party at school the next day, but then he was fine. Ethan and Alex got the same bug two days later, but again, it passed and all were well again.



For a few days.


Alex began to be very irritable, and rightly so, since we discovered he was cutting two molars at once. Then, one night, I checked on him and found he was burning up with fever and panting to get breath. A trip to the doctor the next day revealed something like Bronchiolitis (the doctor never really said what it was, just that his bronchioles were constricted, but that it wasn't Bronchiolitis, nor Pneumonia - thank Heaven!) He was put on an antibiotic, to kill any bacteriall infection that may have brought this on, and a steroid to help open his airways. We (Mike) also had to dig through every box as yet unpacked (I'm ashamed to admit there are quite a few - Office stuff, you know, my Nemesis!), to find his Nebulizer. Alex is better for the treatments than he was as a baby, but one day he turned it on by himself and it scared him so much that he now calls it the "Loud."

The day I returned from that doctor visit, Ethan began coughing. The following Tuesday, the 23rd, I went back to the doctor to find out more about what might be causing his 102.3 degree fever that accompanied his now constant cough. The doctor who saw him, (not his regular pediatrician, since he was booked already), said he definitely had Tonscilitis. The Strep Throat culture came back negative (again - Thank Heaven!), but nonetheless, we left with a prescription for amoxicilan (his best friend would be so jealous, since he loves the stuff and didn't even get it when he was diagnosed with Bronchial Pneumonia that same week, poor guy!), and a cough syrup that Ethan loves so much that he's now faking coughs to see if he can get more of it.


Finally, I thought, "We've had it all. The drugs are in the home, and in their systems, we can peacefully enjoy our Christmas!"

Not to be. On Christmas Day, Andrew threw up in the car between Grandma & Grandpa Slade's house and Grandma and Grandpa Larsen's house. We tried to push it off as having eaten too much junk food, (which he really hadn't overdone) or getting motion sickness as he played his new Leapster game in the car, but when he did it again once we were home, we figured it must be a real bug. The thing is, after a while, he was FINE. There were no more incidents at all, from anyone, Saturday or Sunday. Then, yesterday, he threw up in the morning, got better in the afternoon, then was sick again at night. This morning he threw up again, but by 1 p.m. he was FINE again.
We made our now weekly visit to see Dr. Amann, and all he could tell me is that it must either be a virus that his system is having trouble getting over, or several individual flu viruses, one every few days. The strangest thing is that I haven't heard much of any of the people he's been around getting sick. We just have to give it more time for him to get better, I guess.

Aside from all that, we did have a WONDERFUL Christmas! Mike and I had to actually wake our kids up (by turning off the humidifier, ha, ha) at 7:30 on Christmas morning. Mike read the Christmas Story from Luke 2, before we began unwrapping. We took nearly two hours opening only a few gifts each, since they wanted to take each present out of it's theft-proof packaging. (Mike's multi-tool got more use than ever!) We were all very happy with what we received!

We had a delicious brunch at Slades', around noon, and were spoiled with presents! (My personal favorite being a significant boost to our Food Storage, including such things as Toilet Paper, Soap, Toothpaste, and Sanitizer!)

Then we made it to the Larsens' in time to say a few words each to both of my brothers currently serving missions - Andrew in Argentina, and Gavin in Mexico. The boys had a blast with all their cousins, and we munched on all the goodies Grandma Larsen always has at Christmas time! (We had already done all of our gift exchanging with that side of our family at the Christmas party on the 13th.)

We even got home with plenty of time to play with our new toys afterward. We're now looking forward to New Year's Eve, though all we're planning to do is the same thing we've been doing for many days now, with the exception of Christmas - keeping to ourselves until we're sure the "ickiness" is all gone! At least we have a lot of fun new ways to entertain ourselves now!!


We haven't made it down to Grandma and Grandpa Chase's house since the Christmas party on the 19th, but we're hoping to get well enough to visit them soon!

Here are each of us with our goodies from Santa:
Andrew has a ring-pop in his mouth. He got Night-Vision Goggles, a Spyder Trap, which he's attached to all his gifts, a Glitter Ball, a Webkin, and a Batman Leapster game, which teaches math skills on a 3rd-4th grade level. (He loves to multiply and divide!)

Ethan played with his "dragon castle" for nearly two hours straight. He got new goop for his Bug Maker, which Santa brought last year (when he opened them Ethan exclaimed, "How did he know I have a Bug Maker?" LOL). He also got a webkin and, yes, Thomas the Train train tracks and a set of cars to be pulled by his motorized Percy car. We knew the day would eventually come when our house would be littered with train tracks, and it's finally here.

Alex dropped his ring-pop, forgot completely about the Hershey kiss he'd been crying for, the very second he saw that the present he was opening was his very own "Mawn Mower!" Luckily it was the last thing he opened, or he wouldn't have gotten around to opening anything else. He enjoys his new broom, (" 'weep"), his toolbox full of tools, his puppy dog, and his motorized train (which he owes to Ethan's comment after arguing with Alex over his own motorized car, "Santa should bring Alex a train car of his own. Only it HAS to be in his stocking!" Santa aims to please!)

I love my new cooking supplies and the boots that will keep my feet warm! We had fun playing the Office Trivia game with Kevin and Kylie one night, and I'm just getting into the book.

Mike and Andrew have made great use of the new XBox 360 controller, and we're anxiously awaiting a respite from illness so we can use our new two-seater snow tube!

Moments that Melt a Mom's Heart!

I have a thousand other things I could be doing right now, but it's getting to me that I haven't posted these thoughts yet, and I'm afraid I'm going to forget them, so here goes:

At Andrew's last basketball game, last Friday night, Grandma and Grandpa Larsen came to watch, and they brought my nephew Sam. Sam brought two swords with him. Grandma said that as he was headed out the door with one, he stopped and said, "Wait, I need to grab another one for Ethan!" Awww, how sweet to think of his cousin!

Well, with TWO swords and THREE boys watching the game (Sam, Ethan, and Alex), there were a few opportunities to practice sharing. Once when Alex had a turn with a sword, another little boy came up and asked for a turn, to which Alex replied, "No, mine," and swiftly hid the sword behind his back. (This was probably a good thing, since the sword wasn't really his to share in the first place.)
Anyway, shortly afterward, Ethan started to take the sword from Alex. I quickly stepped in and reminded Ethan that there's a better way to ask for a turn. Of course, then I was getting ready to help Alex hand over the sword, if Ethan asked nicely. But to my amazement, when Ethan sweetly asked, "Can I have a turn please?," my 19 month old kindly handed him the sword! I couldn't believe my eyes! No coercing, no need to explain that his turn was over - he simply gave it to Ethan. In that very moment, the spirit whispered to me that Alex had done it because of all the times Ethan has set a good example for him by sharing his things when people ask nicely! I made sure I told Ethan that the only way a nearly 2 year old child shares ANYTHING is if someone else has done a very good job of willingly sharing with him, and I thanked Ethan for being that someone. My motherly heart was just brimming with pride for my two sweet boys!

As if that weren't enough for one night, at the end of the game, Andrew was awarded the Sportsmanship of the Game Award, by the coach of the other team, for the second time this season. As the coach was handing him the treat, I explained that he's already received the award before, if he wanted to give it to another player. The coach just said, "No, he earned it." Then, Mike suggested that maybe Andrew could share the Skittles (one of Andrew's most favorite candies) with his teammate, Wyatt, who had helped another teammate up when he fell during the game. I passed this idea on to Andrew. Without hesitation, Andrew went right over to Wyatt and said," Here, you can have this. I've already gotten it before." Wyatt's dad said he didn't have to do that, but Andrew insisted. The thing that really got me was watching the joy on Andrew's face as he witnessed the joy he'd brought to Wyatt. I'm so grateful for a son who truly understands that it's better to give than to receive!

Ah, now I can sleep, knowing I've preserved a record of these small acts of kindness by my children.

Our New House

Many of my friends in Pennsylvania have been asking for pictures of our new house. I completely understand, because I really like to have a visual image for where someone is, when I picture them in my mind. Otherwise, they're just Out There in some unknown void. So, here are the pictures of our new house, starting from the top floor, down to the basement.

All the bedrooms we use are upstairs. Beginning in our bedroom, here is our master bathroom:

Here is our room (you can see the door to our walk-in closet - we've never had one before and it's soo nice!):

The picture of the Salt Lake Temple, above our bed, was what I saved for as a house-warming gift to myself. I love it!
Next is Andrew and Ethan's room. Their dressers were from my childhood, and Mom and Brent gave them to us for them to use. We're probably getting bunkbeds for them for Ethan's birthday, and we'll put the toddler bed away for a few months, 'til Alex is ready for it.

Right next to their room is Alex's room:

The main bathroom is also on this level, along with a good-sized closet for storing medicine, extra toiletries, towels, humidifiers, etc.

This picture is taken from the top of the stairs looking down into the Front Room/Living Room. I wish I would've gotten a better shot of the ledge on top of the wall above the piano. I love to decorate up there!

On the other side of that wall, is the Kitchen: (It looks so bare to me in this picture because now I've had so many other decorations for the holidays up there. I took these pictures a long time ago.) Mike's parents gave us the bar stools, and they work so perfectly! Someday I want to rcover the seats with a fun maroon or something.

The Dining Room can be seen through those bars. Off the Dining Room is a sliding glass door onto a deck (you can see it through the Family Room window) This picture was actually taken before we moved in, so the desk and couch are not the ones that is there now. We liked how they had is set up, so we copied them:

Here is the furniture that is really there. One the wall, above our family pictures, it says "Family; A Journey to Forever," in vinyl lettering, which was a gift from our friends, the Pitcavages. We LOVE it!

Here are the stairs to the basement. Of course, we don't always have Andrew's tent set up, this was just a fun activity for a day when we had Elliott and Quinn over. (It's Quinn you can see at the bottom of the stairs.):

The first door on the right as you reach the bottom of the stairs, is the Laundry Room. It is the only part of the house that is unfinished. It's small, but just perfect for what we need. We love our new washer and dryer that we had to get!

The next door is the Office. Obviously, it's the last room we have left to unpack and really set up. We have way to much junk (mostly thanks to me), but someday we'll get through it all.

The playroom is next. It has no real door, which is actually a good thing for a playroom, we've discovered. It is still considered a bedroom, since it has a closet and a window. Someday it will become the Office and the Office will become Andrew's room.

There are two other closets down there - we love having room for storage! And a Bathroom with a shower:

This is a bad picture of the backyard, since I took it from my bedroom window through the screen), but you get the idea. The swing set/slide, was built by the previous owner's father. Getting that was an awesome bonus! We are excited to use the garden, after three years of not having a place to garden. The shed is where we keep all our extra clothes, holiday decorations, and the yard stuff.

So there you go. I'm glad to have all these "before" shots to look back on, years from now, when we've changed things so much that we can't remember what it used to be like.

Andrew's Basketball Talent

As soon as the flyer came home from Andrew's school announcing sign-ups for Junior Jazz Basketball, I got online and paid his dues. The night before his first game, Mike took him in the garage for a little skill building. Andrew's P.E. class was also working on basketball skills at that time, so it took a little convincing to get him to think he should practice at home too. It was so cute (Mike would correct me here and say, "It's cool, not cute!") to see Ethan and Alex following Andrew around as he followed Mike's instructions. They dribbled around Mike's toolbox, placed in the center of the garage. They aimed for a spot about 7 feet high on the wall and took shots at it. And Mike had him try defense as Mike dribbled around him. We thought this would become a weekly event, but unfortunately so far, this has been the only night of practice at home. Once, Andrew went with Mike early Saturday morning to play at a church, but it looks like someday we're really going to need our own adjustable basketball hoop for any frequent practicing to take place.

So then the games began. They were held at Farmington Junior High, and none of Andrew's friends whose mothers I'd contacted were going to be participating. Andrew was very nervous that first night. To our joy, he found that one of his classmates from school was on his same team. That was all it took to loosen him up. Sadly, his friend, Colby, broke his arm half way through the season and couldn't continue. (Remind anyone of Andrew during T-ball last spring?) By then, it didn't matter to Andrew, though, because he had made friends with his other teammates. Mike noticed right off that Andrew has a natural talent for defending! He stays on his guy (they wear matching colored wristbands to keep track of the person they're defending), and always has his arms out. He's also usually the first one down the court after a turn-over. One skill he's been working to develop lately is to get open to receive the ball, and look like he actually wants it. He's done better on that the past couple games.

As usual, Andrew is always in motion, whether on the court or on the bench. One game I watched as Andrew took his turn to sit out and began doing push-ups, sit-ups, and running in place on the sideline. As the game went on, I noticed Andrew never returned to the court. As I was helping him put his coat on in the end, the Coach's wife told me that she tried to get him to go back out, but he kept refusing. I asked Andrew why, and he said, "I wanted to do my exercises so I could get better for the next time I play!" I reminded him that the exercises needed to take place before the game, since Daddy and I had paid money to provide him with the opportunity to actually play while we're at the games! What a character!
For some of the games, Ethan and Alex come along to support their brother (we remind them that they will one day have their turn, and Andrew will be coming along to support them, too.) Ethan does such a fantastic job of entertaining Alex! They play so well together! Sometimes they play inside the gym, on the bleachers, or with the portable hoops at the side, and sometimes they run up and down the hallway ramp just outside the gym. Once, both Grandma and Grandpa Slade, and Grandma and Grandpa Larsen came to watch Andrew's game. Ethan and Alex entertained them just as much as the game did!

Halloween Fun

I did an excellent job of promptly posting pictures from our October Halloween adventures on Facebook. Which meant that I did not ever get around to posting them on this blog. Until now. (And, since I apparently didn't learn my lesson well enough from the last time, this is another LONG blog post, sorry!)

*Early in the month, our friends, the Lucherinis, invited us to go to the Treehouse Children's Museum with them. It was after school hours, so Andrew was able to join us. They were doing a program called the Enchanted Woods, in which actors told the stories of many fairy tales, while the kids listened with rapt attention (except Alex, most of the time, who's usually too busy to sit still.) Then they received a prize from each character. It was fun for all of us, and I was pleased to see that the majority of the "treats" were not candy.

* On the 10th, my mom brought her grape juicer and her expertise to my house to show Kim and I how to make our own grape juice from the grapes that grow over the fence in Kim's yard. (Thank you Kim for graciously sharing of your abundance!) We canned 14 jars and shared our life stories with each other. It was a great day. The following Monday, I canned another 11 jars myself. Now the challenge is making it last - It's soo delicious!

* As an added treat this month, Mike and I went on a REAL Date - just the two of us! We saw "The Foreigner," a very funny play. It was put on as a dinner theater at the Farmington Community Center. The food was good, and we laughed hard! It's nice to have time just the two of us, away from home, and not have 45 minutes of driving afterward just to take the babysitter home!

* Ethan and Alex got to spend some time at Aunt Carina's house, with Tyler. Carina had sugar cookies all ready to be frosted. Yum! And perhaps a touch messy! :-)

* Most Wednesdays in October, Ethan, Alex and I attended Story Time at the library, along with Ethan's best bud, Elliott and his brother Quinn ("Winn," as Alex says). It's adorable to watch Ethan and Elliott together. Alex, as usual, had me chasing after him throughout the place, trying to keep him from pulling every book off the shelves. It's always an adventure.

* One Saturday, after our family had worked together to clean the entire house in just over one hour, we rewarded ourselves with a trip to Cherry Hill for a round of miniature golf. Carina, Ben, and Tyler were able to join us! We loved seeing all the fun Halloween decorations throughout the course! Mike and I had to laugh when Ben and Carina began keeping score after the first hole. With three kids to keep up with, we haven't kept score for mini-golf in a LONG time! It didn't take long for them to give up on it as well.

At one point, Alex tried to crawl into one of the castles. We turned away for a second, laughing at his attempts, only to turn back and notice he was nowhere in sight! Did he really succeed in entering that tiny doorway? We could hear him, but couldn't see him. We soon found that he had crawled around the castle and was stuck in the bushes behind it. Whew!


* Our Ward held a Halloween Party/Trunk-Or-Treat the week before Halloween. It was our first time to dress up this year. I had a blast getting all ready and then hearing that people could not recognize me due to my excellent makeup job (even though my fake nose wouldn't stick and I ended up just painting mine)! Andrew (Link, from Zelda) won the doughnut eating contest on the round he entered. Alex (a Pumpkin) received several broken bits of doughnuts from Meghan Stott, due to the inability to deny his completely adorable "Peese," he says as he bends slightly at the waist and implores sweetly with his eyes. Ethan (Captain Hook) enjoyed many of the games, but the most fun was being a pirate like Elliott. Mike even dressed up this year, because Ethan's eyes lit up with delight when I casually asked if Dad should be a pirate like him - I couldn't resist buying the adult size costume after that!
* For Family Home Evening, the Monday before Halloween, we carved pumpkins. This is NOT Mike's favorite part about Halloween. He helped out a little when it came to the actual carving, but mostly he helped keep Alex entertained so he wouldn't be in the way. The boys mostly can't stand to scoop out the goop, so I make the deal with them that if they will pose for one picture of them scooping, I will scoop out the rest for them. I just love to watch them get grossed out by the guts! Ethan chose a pirate ship pattern, for which we had nothing but the picture on the front of the pattern book. I think I did a pretty good job of making it up! Andrew chose a spider in the moon. He was excited that this year he was able to use the saw to do some of the carving himself. He did a great job!

* I had the good fortune of holding the Preschool Halloween Party at my house. The difficulty was in deciding which delectable treats to make, and which party games to play. In the end, I chose to make my traditional wassail, which the kids mostly didn't care for; eyeballs made from gummy lifesavers, a raisin, and vanilla pudding, all placed in half an Easter egg (which explains why Alex now calls all plastic Easter eggs "eyeballs."); and cupcakes with spider webs frosted on them. We played Pin the Nose on the Scarecrow, (I was quite pleased with my quick creation of a scarecrow, using Alex's clothes); "Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Ghost," which was fun because only a couple of the kids were familiar with Duck, Duck, Goose, so most of the game was spent reminding the kids of the rules of the game; and we danced to fun Halloween songs! We also had them paint a pumpkin to take home, ruining only some of the costumes they were wearing. All in all, I think they all had a great time - I know I did!




Oh yeah, and did I mention that it snowed during the party? The kids loved peering out the window to watch it come down. At one point there were huge flakes, then tiny ones. Within about an hour of the party ending, all the snow had melted, but it was fun while it lasted.


*Ethan's Preschool also took him to a local Pumpkin Patch as a field trip. The kids played on the playground and in the hay maze, then listened to a story and learned a little about how to grow different kinds of pumpkins. We had already carved our pumpkins at home, but Ethan really wanted to pick a pumpkin from the patch, so I figured it was worth the $2 to bring him more happiness!
* By the time Halloween actually arrived, for the first time ever I felt like I was already Halloweened-out! Still, we did our parental duties to clad our children, and ourselves, in costumes once again, and go through the expected motions of the night. I even made "Brains" (scrambled eggs) and "Worms" (buttered noodles) for dinner. Then, Mike dutifully marched the kids through the streets to gather the candy we would then spend the next few weeks regulating its consumption. I became excited about the prospect of finally having enough trick-or-treaters coming to our house to warrant me staying home to pass out the candy, and wondered if the two large bags I'd purchased would be enough. I'd heard that there are usually many large crowds throughout the night. To my dismay, the neighborhood crowds were mostly nonexistent, probably due to the success of the Trunk-or-Treat. So, I spent the night taking down my Halloween decorations, listening to Halloween music, and drinking my wassail by myself. It was somewhat bittersweet. I was grateful when my family returned for the evening and settled into watching a show together, occasionally interrupted by the few straggling trick-or-treaters.